The former England international was seen leaving Liverpool Dental Spa today with his wife Abbey Clancy, who is a regular, and daughter Sophia where the bruise underneath his right eye was clear to see.

Having started the season with five goals from his first seven games, Crouch’s season has tailed off, with his only goal before Saturday coming in a 2-2 draw with Wigan in January.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis had backed the former Tottenham hitman to rediscover his scoring touch, as he said before the QPR game: There's been a while, especially after his injury, where Peter has not performed to the level he was at before.

‘He had a good start to the season and looked a real handful. Hopefully he will be back to what he was in the next five games.’

Crouch came off with a minute to go at QPR but should be in line to face Norwich at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

Wembley woe for Wigan as FA open neutral section after Latics fail to sell 10,000 tickets

By
David Kent

PUBLISHED:

15:06 GMT, 10 April 2013

|

UPDATED:

16:38 GMT, 10 April 2013

Saturday's FA Cup semi-final between Millwall and Wigan at Wembley will be open to 'neutral' supporters following the Premier League team's struggle to sell tickets.

Wigan's ticket sales have so far not sold 10,000 of their 31,000 allocation for the last-four tie against the Championship side and the FA have intervened by opening a mixed zone for spectators.

Both teams were given just over 31,000 tickets and Millwall – who are, of course, based in London – are expected to sell their full quota.

Poor sales: The FA have opened a neutral section for this weekend's semi-final between Millwall and Wigan

But Wigan's Wembley woe is not exactly unexpected. Roberto Martinez's men rarely sell out home matches and the average attendance for Premier League games at the DW Stadium this season is just shy of 19,000.

Perhaps more of a surprise is that Millwall, who only had around 9,000 at their home game against Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday, have managed to shift nearly 31,000 tickets.

The FA have now made a maximum of 6,000 seats, from what was due to be Wigan's allocation, available to neutrals.

Even so, Wembley is still expected to be far from full on Saturday with officials estimating around 15,000 empty seat.

Sunday's more glamorous semi-final between Manchester City and Chelsea is expected to sell out, though.

Wigan qualified for their first ever FA Cup semi-final thanks to a surprising 3-0 win against Everton at Goodison Park.

Millwall,
meanwhile, advanced to the last four after Danny Shittu's header saw
off Blackburn in their quarter-final replay at Ewood Park.

Cruise: Wigan set up their first ever FA Cup semi-final after a 3-0 win at Goodison Park in the last round

Heading for Wembley: Danny Shittu scored the only goal as Millwall beat Blackburn in their quarter-final replay

The bootroom: Survival It's all about nerve now… and Stoke, Norwich and Newcastle must keep theirs

By
Martin Keown

PUBLISHED:

21:30 GMT, 5 April 2013

|

UPDATED:

22:57 GMT, 5 April 2013

Taking it easy: Jocky Wilson relaxes away from the pressures of the oche

The late, great darts legend Jocky Wilson used to recount how pressure could reach out and grab him by the throat. Once that happened, he could do nothing.

Stoke, Norwich and Newcastle must make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen to them this weekend.

They are the teams in 13th, 14th and 15th places in the Barclays Premier League, just a few points above the drop zone and all with very winnable home games this weekend.

Stoke, with one win in 12, are at home to Aston Villa. Norwich have won one in 14 and face out-of-sorts Swansea. Newcastle, after returning from Lisbon, hope a fourth successive home win — against Fulham — can pull them clear of danger.

It’s easy to look at those sides and say they’ll be fine but why should they be The bottom of the table is as close as I can remember and if you are one of those teams, you will be nervous.

All these teams are probably a win away from safety. If you can put daylight between you and the bottom three quickly, it’s fine. If you don’t, that win you need becomes harder to come by.

This weekend, Stoke manager Tony Pulis, Chris Hughton at Norwich and Alan Pardew at Newcastle will have pencilled in must-win matches. Of their respective opponents, Villa are deep in trouble, Swansea have lost three in a row while Fulham are safe and have little to play for.

Such is Villa’s and Wigan’s fighting spirit that they are pulling the teams above them into the relegation battle. They worried Sunderland so much that they sacked Martin O’Neill. But all the teams up to and including Southampton will be a bit nervous.

Stoke, more than anyone, might have the outcome of the relegation battle in their hands. After Villa, they play Norwich, QPR, Sunderland and Southampton before the end of the season. Last week against Everton they were poor, Peter Crouch and Cameron Jerome especially.

Out of sorts: Stoke lost at Everton last weekend (above), while Newcastle were thumped by Manchester City (below left) and Norwich were beaten by Wigan (below right)

It doesn’t look like Stoke’s players are responding to Pulis as much as they used to and they have failed to evolve as a team. Their passing and style should be better after so many years in the Premier League. And there is the added uncertainty over Pulis’s future, which cannot be helping the players. I didn’t like hearing him talk this week about how many points will be needed to stay up. The focus should be on improving the team, not counting the points and fixtures.

We did that when I was relegated with Aston Villa and it cost us. You must not become obsessed with each and every scenario.

But Pulis is a fighter and has done remarkably well at that club overall. I’m confident he’ll keep them up, even if they have regressed this season.

Norwich hardly concede but they hardly score either. And after losing at Wigan last weekend, the pressure is on a little bit. When you lose to a team below you, it can give you the impression that they are better than you. It will not have inspired confidence. Three wins on the trot against Swansea will give them some belief that they can claim three vital points.

For Stoke and Norwich, staying up is their main aim. Anything after that is a bonus. For Newcastle it is slightly different, although people are realising now just how much they overachieved last season.The Europa League has not helped them but they haven’t won a trophy for 44 years so they need to take it seriously. It’s just vital that their league form doesn’t dip any more or the situation will snowball.

Spurs' tough schedule will help their Champions League bid, says Friedel

By
Laura Williamson

PUBLISHED:

21:45 GMT, 31 March 2013

|

UPDATED:

00:57 GMT, 1 April 2013

Brad Friedel believes Tottenham’s tough April schedule will benefit their bid to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Spurs moved into third place with their 2-1 win at Swansea on Saturday but must play Everton, Chelsea and Manchester City in the next three weeks, as well as a two-leg Europa League quarter-final against FC Basel.

Friedel, though, believes his side rise to the occasion against teams in the top half of the table. Home draws against the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Norwich and Stoke, as well as defeats by Wigan and Fulham, have, after all, stunted Tottenham’s progress this season.

Scroll down to watch the highlights

Tough schedule: Brad Friedel believes Tottenham's players will rise to the challenge in the run in

The goalkeeper said: ‘We have some tough Premier League games coming up and I think that is much better for us. The bigger the game, the more the players will step up to the plate.

‘It might be nervy for the people who think about it and watch it but in-house we know what we want to do. There are no nerves hanging around the training ground.’

On fire: Gareth Bale (right) scores with a stunning strike against Swansea

This was a vital win for Andre Villas-Boas’ side although it took a last-minute tackle from Gareth Bale to prevent Nathan Dyer scoring an equaliser after Michu led a spirited Swansea fight-back in the second half. A loss — or even a draw after establishing a 2-0 lead with two stunning goals from Jan Vertonghen and Bale inside 21 minutes — and Friedel admitted Tottenham’s Champions League hopes could have been over.

The goalkeeper, 41, started his first Premier League game since November to allow Hugo Lloris to protect a slight knee injury he sustained on international duty with France. Friedel will play again against Basel on Thursday, but Lloris is expected to resume training on Monday.

Friedel said: ‘If we had given away a two-goal lead, psychologically it would have hurt. There would have been no denying that. It was very important that we won today (Saturday).

Vital: The win over Swansea was an important three points for Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas

‘It was a massive three points. The week we had before the international break where we had the three losses (against Liverpool, Inter Milan and Fulham) meant this was a huge, huge win for us. To top it off Chelsea lost which makes it an even better weekend.’

Bale added: ‘It was important for us to get a win because it was important to stop the rot and try and kick on and make our season as good as possible. It was a great result for us today so hopefully we can keep this run going now. We’re still in the running for our objectives and hopefully we can fulfil them.’

PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE: Follow the action from around the grounds as it happens

By
Dan Ripley

PUBLISHED:

04:00 GMT, 2 February 2013

|

UPDATED:

14:18 GMT, 2 February 2013

Live scores (3pm)

Click here for the live goals as they go in

Arsenal v Stoke

Everton v Aston Villa

Newcastle v Chelsea

Reading v Sunderland

West Ham v Swansea

Wigan v Southampton

Click here for the live Premier League table

All the latest from the Championship

All the latest from League One

All the latest from League Two

All the latest from the SPL

Follow Sportsmail's coverage of the Barclays Premier League as Newcastle host Chelsea in one of six games kicking off at 3pm.

Arsenal will hope to put pressure on those above them in the table for a Champions League spot when they host Stoke, including Everton who welcome struggling Aston Villa.

Reading will hope their late heroics against Chelsea midweek can spur them on to three points against Sunderland at the Madejski Stadium.

West Ham bid to end a run of six games without a win when they take on Swansea, while Wigan and Southampton hope to boost their respective top flight survival hopes when they clash at the DW Stadium.

Send me your thoughts on the action at [email protected] or contact me on Twitter @Ripinho.

14.10: Also worth a few minutes of your time before kick-off at 3pm is the latest column from Sportsmail's Martin Samuel, who answered back to YOUR responses surrounding Chelsea's Eden Hazard and the ball boy/teenager.

14.05: QPR were the first team to field their deadline day signings. And you can see how Chris Samba and Andros Townsend are fairing on their debuts for the Hoops by clicking here to follow our live coverage of QPR v Norwich with Alex Horlock. We are into the second half at Loftus Road.

14.00: Afternoon folks. You may have noticed that all of the matches over the next two days are the reverse fixtures from the second weekend of the season.

Since then we've seen the closure of two transfer windows so if your team has not signed that holding midfielder or star striker that you badly needed even back in the summer then that's too bad.

If your side was busy up until the 11pm deadline on Thursday then this is the first chance to see the potential deadline day stars that could just save your season. Either way today's team news is coming up.

Gunning for three points: Arsenal, Everton, West Ham and Chelsea are in action from 3pm